-73 -88 DRAWBARS & PERCUSSION Drawbars & Percussion 1 DRAWBARS & PERCUSSION Ë Manual Drawbars Your Hammond Sk-series instrument has one set of nine Drawbars. Drawbars, often called Tonebars, are the heart and the basis of the renowned Hammond Sound and have been used since the first Hammond Organ Model A introduced in 1935. There are approximately 253,000,000 possible sound combinations that can be produced by these Drawbars. Each Drawbar consists of sine waves of different pitches. The illustration below shows how each Drawbar relates to the keyboard when middle "C" is pressed. Each Drawbar is marked with a number followed by a footage mark. For example, the first white Drawbar is marked "8'". This is pipe organ terminology indicating that the pipe used to produce the lowest note on the keyboard on a pipe organ is actually eight feet long. The numbers from "1" to "8" on each Drawbar represent degrees of loudness - number 1 being the softest, and number 8 being the loudest. 2 Drawbars & Percussion Drawbars are divided into 3 groups of sound as well as 3 groups of color. We will first look at the 3 sound groups. Sound Groups You may think of these sound groups in terms of the three levels - The Sub being the deep pitches, the Foundation being the mid range of pitches and the Brilliance being the high pitches. - SUB - - FOUNDATION - - BRILLIANCE - TRY THIS: 1. Make sure all Drawbars are “IN” (off). 2. Hold down a “C” chord, starting with “E” above middle “C”, (“E”, “G” & “C” notes) with your right hand on the manual (or the Upper Manual of the SK-2). 3. Starting with the first white Drawbar, pull out and push in each of the Foundation Drawbars one group at a time until you have a sound that you like. 4. While still holding the “C” chord down, pull each of the brown Sub Drawbars out until you like the sound. 5. Now do the same with the Brilliance Drawbars. It's that easy to create your own custom Drawbar settings. Drawbars & Percussion 3 Color Groups White Drawbars The first white Drawbar represents the “fundamental” or “8' base” tone. All of the other white Drawbars are octave intervals or harmonics of the fundamental tone. The tonal brilliance is greatly increased by adding white Drawbars, but the harmonics added are always in “consonance” or harmony. TRY THIS: - CONSONANT HARMONICS - 1. Make sure all Drawbars are “IN” (off). 2. Hold down middle “C” on the manual (or the Upper Manual on the Sk2). 3. Pull the first white Drawbar all the way out. 4. Now, one by one, pull the other white Drawbars out in sequence. As you add each Drawbar, you will hear the addition of the same note an octave higher in each case. Black Drawbars The Black Drawbars on the Hammond Organ represent the dissonant (discordant) harmonics which are also necessary in building rich tone colors. The mellowness of a horn, the pungency of strings, and the brilliance of reed voices owe much of their character to the presence of these harmonics in different degrees. TRY THIS: - DISSONANT HARMONICS - 1. Make sure all Drawbars are “IN” (off). 2. Hold down middle “C” on the manual (or the Upper Manual on the Sk2). 3. Pull the first white Drawbar in the second group of Drawbars for the Swell Manual, marked 8', all the way out. 4. Now pull the 3 Black Drawbars in the second group of Drawbars for the Swell Manual all the way out. The sound produced by the Drawbars is that of a clarinet. 4 Drawbars & Percussion Brown Drawbars In addition to the white and black Drawbars, there are two brown Drawbars in the group. These two Drawbars produce “sub-octave” effects. The first brown Drawbar is the sub-octave of the fundamental Drawbar. It is “one octave” lower in sound. TRY THIS: 1. Make sure all Drawbars are “IN” (off). 2. Hold down middle “C” on the manual (or the Upper Manual on the Sk2). 3. Pull the first white Drawbar all the way out. 4. While continuing to hold middle “C” down, pull the first brown Drawbar all the way out. You will now hear the sound of “C” one octave lower being added. The second brown Drawbar is the “sub-octave” of the third harmonic. Both of these Drawbars are used to add depth and richness to many combinations. They also increase the range of the manual by one octave since a solo registration of the “8 foot,” or normal pitch, can be set up using the first brown Drawbar as the fundamental and played one octave higher. TRY THIS: 1. Make sure all Drawbars are “IN” (off). 2. Hold down middle “C” on the manual (or the Upper Manual on the Sk2). 3. Pull the first white Drawbar all the way out. 4. While continuing to hold middle “C” down, pull the first brown Drawbar all the way out. You will now hear the sound of “C” one octave lower being added. 5. Now pull the second brown Drawbar in the same group out, and you will hear it add a richness to the sound of the “C” note that you are holding down. Drawbars & Percussion 5 Tone Families By Shape Regardless of the size of a pipe organ or its number of stops, all of its voices are related to four basic families of tone. The four basic families - Flute, Reed, String and Diapason - can be quickly set up on the Drawbars by relating a pattern or shape to each family. These are the generalities which apply to the tonal resources of the organ, and in themselves produce pleasant and usable effects. However, real beauty of tone is secured in two ways. The first way is to use registrations which have been devised by organists. The second way, and eventually the one that best expresses your own feeling for the music, is to create your own tonal effects, experimenting with and perfecting tones which you use to play your favorite selections. The Hammond Organ Drawbars allow you not only to set up any tonal effect you want, but also to make many fine variations of the tone. Only with the Hammond Drawbars can you play exactly the shade of tone you want for every selection and, perhaps even more important, for every size and type of room in which you play. With the Hammond Organ Drawbars, a touch of a finger is all that is needed to make the tone quality softer or more brilliant, richer in one harmonic or another. 6 Drawbars & Percussion Typical Drawbar Registration Patterns For The Four Families Of Organ Sound Flute family (2 step pattern) Flute Tones Accompaniment Flute 8' I 00 8460 000 Accompaniment Flute 8' II 00 3220 000 Accompaniment Flute 8' III 00 8600 000 Chorus of Flutes 16' 80 8605 002 Orchestral Flute 8' 00 3831 000 Piccolo 2' 00 0006 003 Stopped Flute 8' 00 5020 000 Tibia 8' 00 7030 000 Tibia 4' 00 0700 030 Tibia (Theater) 16' 80 8605 004 W ooden Open Flute 8' 00 8840 000 Reed family (triangle pattern) Reed Tones Bassoon 16' 44 7000 000 Clarinet 8' 00 6070 540 English Horn 8' 00 3682 210 Flugel Horn 8' 00 5777 530 French Horn 00 7654 321 Kinura 8' 00 0172 786 Oboe 8" 00 4764 210 Trombone 8' 01 8777 530 Trumpet 8' 00 6788 650 Tuba Sonora 8' 02 7788 640 Vox Humana 8' 00 4720 123 Drawbars & Percussion 7 Diapason family (check mark pattern) Diapason Tones Accompaniment Diapason 8' 00 8874 210 Chorus Diapason 8' 00 8686 310 Diapason 8' 00 7785 321 Echo Diapason 8' 00 4434 210 Harmonic Diapason 16' 85 8524 100 Harmonic Diapason 8' 00 8877 760 Harmonic Diapason 4' 00 0606 045 Horn Diapason 8' 00 8887 480 Open Diapason 8' 01 8866 430 Solo Diapason 01 8855 331 W ood Diapason 8' 00 7754 321 String family (bow pattern) String Tones Cello 8' 00 3564 534 Dulciana 8' 00 7770 000 Gamba 8' I 00 3484 443 Gemshorn 8' 00 4741 321 Orchestral String 8' 00 1464 321 Salicional 8' 00 2453 321 Solo Viola 8' 00 2474 341 Solo Violin 8' 00 3654 324 Viola da Gamba 8' 00 2465 432 Violina 4' 00 0103 064 Violone 16 26 3431 000 8 Drawbars & Percussion Jazz and Pop Drawbar Registrations On the Hammond Organ, any harmonic may be emphasized individually, or on the other hand, eliminated completely. Even the fundamental may be eliminated. Because of this fact, many unusual and striking effects can be developed. A POP ORGAN TONE - 80 0000 008 The above is an example of what can be done using the Drawbars to create new sounds. This is a very popular combination used by many pop organists. The effect of two harmonics five octaves apart gives a beautiful tone color for playing slower songs or ballads. A JAZZ ORGAN TONE - 88 8000 008 There are many hundreds of Drawbar combination which are not imitative of any instrument, but which are immediately recognized as "Hammond Sounds". The above combination is an example. The basic Hammond Organ jazz sound is gotten with the first three Drawbars, such as 88 8000 000. When the last white Drawbar is used along with the first three Drawbars, a very pleasing effect is created. For playing slower songs, you may wish to try a little less of the last white Drawbar - for example, 88 8000 005. The 8th harmonic will still be heard, but will not be as prominent.